Lyman
Lyman was one of the main characters in the Garfield comic strip. He was a friend and roommate of Jon Arbuckle and the original owner of Odie. The comic strip had Lyman as one of four main characters, alongside Garfield, Jon and Odie. The main cast was reduced to three when Lyman was removed from the strip by Jim Davis. He first appeared on August 7, 1978. He was only actively present for a few months after his debut appearance. Starting from 1981, he was usually absent; for instance, he did not appear in any strips between December 25, 1981, and June 27, 1982. He had largely disappeared from the comic by April 24, 1983, his last regular appearance, and his disappearance was not fully elaborated upon at the time. Lyman has made two cameo appearances in the comic since then. First, in the strip on Garfield's 10th birthday, June 19, 1988, where he appears in the title panel seated between Jon's father and Liz; he also appears in a flashback panel within the strip. The next was on April 2, 2013, in a picture on the newspaper Jon was reading. According to Davis, Lyman's original purpose was to be someone who Jon could actually talk to and express other ideas — a role gradually taken over by Garfield, himself. Once Lyman was no longer needed for that purpose, he was removed without explanation. Jim Davis has jokingly given explanations about Lyman's sudden disappearance and long absence from the strip; examples include Lyman joining the Peace Corps and never being heard from again and "Don't look in Jon's basement." In the web game "Scary Scavenger Hunt," he is shown chained onto the wall in the basement of a haunted mansion. In "Scary Scavenger Hunt 2," his head is found inside the kitchen oven. Also, on the official Garfield website, he was shown working behind the counter in a former edition of the "Book Nook" section. After decades of absence, Lyman made his big comeback in the Garfield Show story arc, “Long Lost Lyman". In this arc, it is revealed that he was a wild life photographer. He had gone to Australia and searched for a mythological creature, but suddenly disappeared without a trace. When Jon, Garfield and Odie went looking for him, they had found him dressed as that creature. Lyman explained that he never contacted them, because there was no way he could. Lyman decided to stay in the jungle to protect the wildlife from poachers, but does promise to visit whenever he can. Trivia *Lyman has appeared 69 times in comics, the 24th most. *Lyman’s last regular appearance was in 1983. *Lyman grew up with four cats, all named Cat. *In The Garfield Show, instead of having dotted eyes, he has regular eyes like Garfield and most other characters (likewise with Mom Arbuckle). *Lyman, in one strip, appears to not care about his appearance, as when asked by Jon Arbuckle for an opinion on something to wear, Lyman is wearing an assortment of mismatching clothing. *In the book 20 Years and Still Kicking!: Garfield's Twentieth Anniversary Collection, one of the sections is named Top Ten Explanations For Lyman's Disappearance and includes: **'10:' Left strip to pursue dream of Olympic figure-skating gold. **'9:' Joined CIA, working undercover in Russian comics. **'8:' Had lunch with Jimmy Hoffa, and then... **'7:' Took role as Elaine on "Taxi". **'6:' Hit on Blondie and Cathy; editors complained; Davis fired him. **'5:' Disfigured in drawing accident. **'4:' Moved to San Francisco. **'3:' Opted for career in Hotel/Motel management. **'2:' Ballooned to 270 pounds; wouldn't fit in cartoon panels. **'1:' Don't look in Jon's basement! *In a "Comics: Meet the Artist" discussion with Jim Davis on The Washington Post, two readers asked about Lyman's disappearance. Davis responded to each: **"...he joined the Peace Corps and was never heard from again." **"He went to an Amway convention and was never heard from again."http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27002-2005Jan21.html Appearances The Garfield Show Season 3 *Long Lost Lyman **Long Lost Lyman Part 1 (flashback) **Long Lost Lyman Part 2 (imagination) **Long Lost Lyman Part 3 **Long Lost Lyman Part 4 Gallery Lyman.gif ImagesCA1ZGEY4.jpg|Lyman On "The Garfield Show" LymanTGS.png Lyman 1978.gif|Lyman's first appearance (August 07, 1978) 1978-08-08.jpg|August 08, 1978 1978-08-10.jpg|August 10, 1978 1978-08-14.jpg|August 14, 1978 1978-08-15.jpg|August 15, 1978 1978-08-16.jpg|August 16, 1978 1978-08-19.jpg|August 19, 1978 1978-08-23.jpg|August 23, 1978 1978-09-09.jpg|September 9, 1978 1978-09-10.jpg|September 10, 1978 1978-09-16.jpg|September 16, 1978 1978-09-22.jpg|September 22, 1978 1978-09-24.jpg|September 24, 1978 1978-10-03.jpg|October 3, 1978 1978-10-20.jpg|October 20, 1978 1978-11-03.jpg|November 3, 1978 1978-11-12.jpg|November 12, 1978 1978-12-02.jpg|December 2, 1978 1978-12-04.jpg|December 4, 1978 1978-12-10.jpg|December 10, 1978 1978-12-15.jpg|December 15, 1978 1978-12-20.jpg|December 20, 1978 1978-12-24.jpg|December 24, 1978 (mentioned) 1978-12-31.jpg|December 31, 1978 1979-01-10.jpg|January 10, 1979 February 04, 1979.gif|February 04, 1979 February 08, 1979.gif|February 08, 1979 February 09, 1979.gif|February 09, 1979 March 08, 1979.gif|March 08, 1979 March 22, 1979.gif|March 22, 1979 April 01, 1979.gif|April 01, 1979 April 11, 1979.gif|April 11, 1979 April 14, 1979.gif|April 14, 1979 April 20, 1979.gif|April 20, 1979 May 07, 1979.gif|May 07, 1979 (mentioned) May 20, 1979.gif|May 20, 1979 May 21, 1979.gif|May 21, 1979 June 06, 1979.gif|June 06, 1979 June 10, 1979.gif|June 10, 1979 (in Garfield's dream) August 05, 1979.gif|August 05, 1979 Arghhh.jpg|October 21, 1979 Lyman diner.jpg|October 25, 1979 image.jpg|February 4, 1980 Lyman cat got your tongue .jpg|May 17, 1980 Lyman,odie.jpg|May 29, 1980 Lyman mousetraps.jpg|August 08, 1980 Lyman tv.gif|August 24, 1980 Lyman .jpg|December 06, 1980 Lyman Christmas ��.jpg|December 25, 1981 Lyman cameo.jpg|June 27, 1982 Lyman Jon Garfield .jpg|Lyman's last regular appearance (April 24, 1983) 0570a980577701301625001dd8b71c47.gif|Lyman as seen on a newspaper (April 2, 2013) External Links Lyman's mysterious disappearance from the strip is discussed at Neatorama.com. References Category:Human Category:Male Characters Category:Comic Strip Category:The Garfield Show Category:Protagonists Category:The Garfield Show Characters